Attempts to block Immigration and Customs Enforcement inside and outside a Manhattan courthouse last week is a criminal matter that goes beyond immigration violations, retired Border Patrol agent John Torres tells Newsmax.
"We're talking about federal law, which supersedes the city laws," Torres said on Newsmax's "Sunday Report." "When you look at this from a criminal perspective, they're crossing the border illegally in violation of Title VIII, you know, Section 1325, which is a crime to cross the border without being inspected. And then you take that further, and you have people that are harboring them, shielding them, protecting them from ICE agents who are trying to locate them, in the end, you have a various network of people that are out there trying to protect illegals."
Last Wednesday, ICE officers arrested nearly two dozen protesters, including a minister, who blocked the paths of two vans agents were using to transport immigrants detained at the courthouse.
New York Police Department officers helped clear the protesters, drawing criticism from some about the cooperation between the city and ICE.
"When you're looking at priorities, especially those that have criminal histories, that have committed additional crimes in some instances, violent crimes against innocent victims here in the community, that's really what the major issue is here," said Torres.
Meanwhile, ICE agents arrested 40 immigrants in Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, and Torres said the Trump administration will need to provide more resources in order to stop such sanctuary locations.
"What the administration is doing is they're going after some of these sanctuary cities," he said. "They're going to take them to court. They can sue them. They can withhold federal money in some instances. We see this at the border all the time, where people cross the border, but they don't stay at the border. They want to get as far away from the border as they can. And as you see here, they're in Nantucket. And they're not just the people who are here trying to look for jobs. They're people who are also criminals, too."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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